5/9/11

When you get down to brass tacks, this is what most rappers are rapping about. And while it's hard to argue against the virtues of being awesome and getting laid, it's refreshing when someone calls up and asks, "you think you can write 16 bars about wizards and shit?" Yes, Joey Lisp. Yes, I can.

From the ashes of the glorious From Parts Unknown empire have risen MCLB and DJ Joey Lisp as "Hear No Evil." MCLB, who always shined as the breakout star of FPU, proves himself as the hardest working emcee in the area, while Joey Lisp, still killing it with the ill beats and scratch techniques, has really come into his own as an emcee.

I plunged myself into the topic, not unlike a magic wand being stabbed into Harry Potter's eye socket. Being the pop-culture/punchline whore that I am, I manage to name check Dr. Strange, Gob Bluth and Dungeons & Dragons and suggest that a vagina is capable of resembling the gaping sleeve of a wizards robe. Get a taste below and head on over to Hear No Evil's SoundCloud page for even more magic.

5/5/11

There are two types of people in life: The killer death-bots and the people who feed them blood. I’m trying to play the death-bot, but mostly end up refilling the blood glass each morning.

I wanted to challenge myself after the success of Saint America, and thanks to Anna who had hooked up every single shade of grey spray paint that Montana makes as a birthdy gift, I had a good excuse to go black and white this time. This was around the same time Quint from AintItCoolNews started his awesome Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day column, and this Metropolis image spoke to me. The actress portraying the iconic robot Maria, cooling off as a production assistant provides a refreshment. Looking at the snapshot without the historic significance, it plays around with ideas of growing old and the increased importance of technology. And it that’s too trying too hard, then it’s about sexy, vampire cyborgs.

This bastard took me longer than I’d care to admit, with me often getting lost in the various layer shades. It was hard to walk away from it, and I really indulged when applying details to the robotic body. Dig the misty screen effect in the background that was achieved with some plastic fencing I'd found in the country.